EXPERIENCE, LOVE, CREATE ART
ABOUT ME
Yo! I'm Tasha Leah Santiago (aka Tursh) and I'm a 21 year-old comic artist from Singapore, who just happens to have many skills and passions outside of just drawing comics. I love to paint, craft, film, animate and even bake!
As an artist, I'm constantly thinking of new ideas and imagining captivating stories to tell. With a desire to inspire others and bring a positive change to our world, I aim to create as many thought-provoking and emotional stories for people from all walks of life, no matter how challenging the process may be.
MY MISSION AND MESSAGE
As our ever-evolving society gets more fast-paced and stressful by the day, it's hard to remember we're still human with emotions, compassion and desires. We often forget to try new things and express ourselves authentically, which I too fall victim to. It's why I aim to use my passion and talents to tell stories about the more hidden aspects of ourselves, so that we can rediscover our purpose in life as individuals, not just cogs in the system. With my art, regardless of form, I hope to inspire others to find comfort in their own identities, or at the very least serve as a mere distraction from our troubles.
MY SPECIALTIES
PROGRAMS I USE
CLIP STUDIO PAINT
I use CSP for all my digital illustrations, commercial graphics and frame-by-frame animations.
CAPCUT
I use Capcut to create vlogs and add basic effects to image sequences for simple animations.
SUBSTANCE PAINTER
I used Substance Painter to create textures for all my models. I was trained to create PBR (physical based rendering) textures and know how to export each texture map back into Maya for rendering.
AFTER EFFECTS
For complex video animations like those you see here, I use After Effects for compositing, colour correction and rendering.
MAYA
I used to make all my 3D models for school assignments with Maya. While I don't have it anymore, I still have the basic modelling and Redshift rendering knowledge.
MY INSPIRATIONS
I love art that's different, controversial and daring. It inspires me to think outside of the box and create something like none other with my own art. What's the point of creating if it's already been done many times before, right?
Growing up, I've been drawn to Tite Kubo's Bleach, thanks to its unique style and aesthetic choices for its time. As the characters look more stylish and realistic, their expressions are much more convincing and expressive, lending to more emotional storytelling. Bleach also uses influence from all sorts of cultures, evident through the Spanish music used for the Espada and in the names of certain characters. As a young artist, it encouraged me to tell a story in fun ways even if it hadn't been done before.
I'm a sucker for innovative and daring animations. It's no wonder I'm a fan of Alberto Mielgo, the Spanish painter and director known for The Witness, Jibaro and Into The Spiderverse. Mielgo's art direction brings a whole new level of realism to his animations despite the work looking impressionistic and choppy. There's something about the lighting and movement that makes it so captivating and imperfectly perfect.
But beyond his technique, his stories tap into real people's struggles without saying too much, especially seen in The Windshield Wiper which talks about modern romance. To top it all off, and most obvious of all, he does not hold back with the raunchiness in his stories. To me, it gives the impression that the artist has his ear close to the ground and is creating out of pure passion for the craft. It inspires me to be brave when putting something out, as long as I believe it's a story that needs to be told.
MY FAVOURITE SUBJECT MATTER
I tend to hyperfixate on different things for random periods of time, so there's no one true thing I like to draw. These days, I like to create fanart for triple A games like God Of War and Resident Evil. I also like to draw action poses of random characters in my manga style. If I'm really out of ideas, I'll fall back on drawing cute mushroom people doing uncharacteristic things in my sketchbook.
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In the past however, I was really fascinated with dystopian environment art (seen through my Radioactive series) and loved to daydream about overgrowth in urban areas.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
01
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE YOU TO MAKE YOUR ARTWORKS?
It really depends on the medium. But typically, I tend to finish pieces very fast as I always start each project with intentions to finish it as soon as possible. Pencil drawings are the fastest to complete; each manga character would only take about 5 minutes, and realistic portraits would take about 30 minutes to an hour, or 2 hours at most. Most paintings take about 2-3 hours to complete. Hyperrealistic environment paintings tend to take 6-7 hours.
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WHICH EVENTS CAN I MEET YOU AT?
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WHAT CAN I COMMISSION YOU TO DO?
Pretty much everything you see on this website! I've made many paintings as gifts before, and most commissions are requested during events like Comic Con.
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If you'd like a commission of your character or portrait of a person/animal, it's best to leave your request as a DM on my Instagram page @potatursh. Before requesting however, it would be much appreciated if you compiled a reference board or document with all the pictures and details of your character.
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If you'd like me to get on board a larger project, please leave me an email and I'll get back to you ASAP.
All the events I'm at are organised with Crimson Star Comics. We're usually only at Singapore Comic Con at the end of the year, but sometimes we'll be at Pinkfest (organised by Pinkdot) during Pride Month, or at other standalone events. Follow me @potatursh on Instagram to stay in the loop!
